FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Utah coach Jim Boylen and his Ute basketball team breathed a huge collective sigh of relief as they walked off the court after Utah's come-from-behind 89-79 overtime victory over Colorado State Wednesday night at Moby Gym.
With a bye this weekend and no games for a week, the last thing the Utes needed was a loss to an 8-17 team struggling to keep out of the dreaded "play-in" game for next month's Mountain West Conference tournament. The Utes had an uphill battle all night against an energetic Ram team that came in just 3-8 in league play, but when it got to overtime, the Utes' experience showed and they dominated, outscoring the Rams 16-6.
"When we got to overtime, I think we all felt we dodged a bullet there and now we were calm and it was a 0-0 game and we were going to win," said Tyler Kepkay, who led the Utes with a career-high 27 points.
Kepaky scored 24 of his game-high total in the second half to spark the Utes, while Luke Nevill overcame a sluggish start to put up some of his best numbers of the year with 23 points, 14 rebounds and a career-high seven blocked shots.
Lawrence Borha added 16 points and Carlon Brown had 12 for the Utes, who improved to 10-2 in MWC play and 19-7 overall.
"Tonight our first half wasn't what it had to be and we struggled," said Nevill. "But in overtime we knuckled down and won it."
While he was thrilled, not to mention relieved with the victory, Boylen was concerned that his team let it go into overtime in the first place.
"I don't think my team totally understands we're on top of the Mountain West," he said. "You're going to get everybody's best shot. They're going to get jacked up for you. They were tougher than us to start the game, more physical than us to start the game and it took us awhile to get going. But when we did we were very good."
He agreed that the Utes played their best ball of the night in the overtime after the two teams ended tied 73-73 in regulation.
The Utes had overcome a 38-34 halftime deficit to take a six-point lead with three minutes left, only to see the Rams come back to tie it.
Kepkay had a chance to give the Utes the lead, but his 18-footer with 20 seconds left missed, giving the Rams the last shot.
The Rams gave the ball to Marcus Walker, who led the team with 22 points, at the top and he eventually drove up the right side and tried a layup with about two seconds left. However, Nevill was there to swat the ball away as the buzzer sounded.
"They ran that play a few times during the game and tried to get to the basket," Nevill said. "I kind of knew Walker was going to take the last shot, so I tried to crowd him and stay in front of him and alter the shot at the rim."
In the overtime, Nevill came alive, hitting a pair of free throws, then scoring inside with his left hand. After Carlon Brown scored on a drive, Nevill swished two more free throws and dunked off a give-and-go from Brown to make it 83-77 with 1:27 left.
From there, the Utes sank six foul shots with Kepkay making four and Shaun Green two.
"It was another night where a different guy steps up," said Boylen. "Kepkay really was the difference in the game."
The Utes ended up shooting 50 percent from the field and 87 percent from the line on 20 of 23.
"They're a veteran team and they just out-executed us down the stretch," said Colorado State coach Tim Miles.
Besides Walker's 23, the Rams got 18 from Willis Gardner, 15 from Andy Ogide and 10 from Travis Franklin.
Utah's next game will be Wednesday at home against UNLV, which lost to Wyoming Wednesday night.
"We lost so many close games last year," Boylen said. "You win them this year and it's the difference in your season. That's growth by this group of men and I'm proud of them."
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